Do I Need to Hire a Lawyer After a Car Accident?
If you’ve been in a car crash, the question of “do you need to hire a lawyer” depends. If you know you’re at fault, there’s no question you’re at fault, then report it to your own auto insurance carrier and they will provide you a lawyer to defend you in that action. However, if…
Read MoreAre You Being Overcharged for Medicaid and Medicare?
Do you, or perhaps your parents, receive Medicare or Medicaid benefits? If so, your doctors could be billing you improperly. Many times this isn’t due to nefarious practices or fraud—although this certainly does happen—but simply because providers don’t understand the laws or procedures, and their mistakes end up costing you money. Educating yourself on what…
Read MoreWhat Should I Bring to an Initial Consultation?
If you’re coming to an initial consultation with an attorney, it’s not required that you bring anything, but there are documents that you can bring to help your lawyers get started in their representation of you. Medical records are always helpful in figuring out exactly what the injuries that you’ve suffered are. If you’ve been…
Read MoreVape Pen Explodes, Killing a Man
Vape pens and e-cigarettes are peaking in popularity right now. People trying to quit smoking cigarettes, or people who just like to have plumes of smoke around their heads are the target audience of vape manufacturers. Because these devices are so new, there isn’t a large body of research around health effects or even much…
Read MoreWhat Is Tort Reform?
Tort reform is the attempt by the insurance industry and large corporations in this country to take away your rights. We have the good fortune to live in a nation where our Founding Fathers for our country and for the state of Arizona, where we live, put provisions in the Constitution that level the…
Read MoreMedicaid and Medical Liens in Arizona – Know Your Rights
Arizona’s Medicaid agency, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), pays healthcare expenses for low-income or disabled patients. Under federal law, hospitals and providers must agree to accept the amounts the AHCCCS pays on behalf of those patients (plus any applicable copay, deductible, etc.) as payment in full. This is how it’s supposed to…
Read MoreWhat Are Mistakes a Lot of Clients Make?
Common mistakes that we see that injured people make include delaying treatment. Do not delay treatment. If you’re injured, please go see a doctor and be honest with that doctor. Don’t exaggerate whatever pain or problems that you have. And the flip side, don’t minimize it. We need documentation of exactly what’s going on…
Read MoreFeds Join Whistleblower Suit Against Concrete Company
The Justice Department and the Virginia attorney general are joining a whistleblower’s lawsuit that alleges a subcontractor knowingly and deliberately used defective concrete on a multi-million-dollar project for the D.C. region’s Metrorail system’s expansion. The whistleblower in this case, Nathan Davidheiser of Pennsylvania, was a lab tech at Universal Concrete Products Corp. Davidheiser filed a…
Read MoreWhat Is a Nuisance Case?
Nuisance claims are defined by statute under Arizona law. They are generally things that are offensive to the senses of a number of people. This is the type of case where a big company comes in and pollutes your water or pollutes your air, and entire communities are affected this. What a nuisance case is…
Read MoreJohnson & Johnson Loses Another Asbestos Talcum Powder Trial — Plaintiff Awarded $25.7 Million Verdict
Johnson & Johnson has been slapped with a $25.7 million verdict for its negligence in failing to warn consumers of the potential health risks of using their baby powder. An Oregon woman who developed mesothelioma claimed that she developed the rare form of lung cancer from repeated exposure to Johnson & Johnson baby powder and…
Read MoreCatastrophic Injuries
When there’s been a catastrophic injury, you need to call a lawyer, even if you don’t know that somebody else may have been at fault for it. Maybe the road was defective, maybe there was something that went wrong with the vehicle. There can be all kinds of things that are not obvious at…
Read MoreJury Awards Injured Cyclist Almost $3 Million for Geico’s Bad Faith
When you sign a contract with your insurance company, you do so in good faith. Basically, that means when something goes wrong, you’ll tell the truth; in return, the insurance company will be honest and fair in its assessment – or, so the theory goes. When your insurance company doesn’t treat you fairly within the…
Read MoreBalance Billing – What it is and How it Works
Have you ever made a trip to the emergency room, thought you were covered by insurance, and later received a bill that seemed way too high? Chances are you just got hit with “surprise billing,” otherwise known as balance billing. You’re not alone. Approximately one in five people who visit an ER within their healthcare…
Read MoreCan I Make an Auto Insurance Claim if I’m Hurt as a Pedestrian?
You can make a claim if you’re hurt as a pedestrian against the driver of the other vehicle and their insurance company. You may be surprised to learn that your own automobile insurance will cover you as a pedestrian even if you’re not in your own car. So long as a motor vehicle, an…
Read MoreDefective Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator Devices – What You Need to Know
An implantable cardioverter defibrillator device, or ICD, is a miracle device. It’s a little box, powered by a battery, that attaches to your heart and records your heart’s rhythm. If it detects an arrythmia – a change in rhythm – it will send an electrical current to the heart. ICDs are a bit different from…
Read MoreFrank Verderame, Firm Partner
I’ve had the privilege of representing people who have suffered the most scary, catastrophic injuries that you can imagine. From brain injury, to paralysis, burn injuries, death of a family member: It’s always hard to do, especially when you grow to know and love your clients. And that’s been the biggest reward of my career.…
Read MoreUsing Your Health Insurance After a Car Accident
If you’ve been injured in a car accident in Phoenix, you can expect the medical bills to start rolling in pretty quickly. Depending on your injury, these bills could be quite substantial. You probably have a lot of questions. How will these bills get paid? Whose insurance company is responsible—yours or the person who caused…
Read MoreRandall A. Hinsch, Firm Partner
If you’ve ever had, I hope you have had, a chance to help somebody out in a situation, it feels good. It really feels good to help somebody out when they’re being bullied. Insurance companies are multi-billion-dollar bullies. And in our civil justice system, it’s often the case where personal injury lawyers, trial lawyers…
Read MoreYears After Takata Recall, Drivers Still Waiting for New Airbags
The Takata airbag recall is the largest and probably most complex safety recall in United States history. This recall, affecting cars from model years 2002 to 2015, involved a design defect in manufacturer-installed airbags that could deploy in an explosive manner, injuring or killing occupants of the vehicle. An inflator inside the airbag would sometimes…
Read MoreRichard S. Plattner, Firm Partner
Well, I’ve been practicing law; now I’m in my 41st year of doing it. What I love about being a personal injury lawyer for plaintiffs is I get to help people. I don’t represent corporations. I only represent people: fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters who’ve been knocked down and who need a hand to get pulled…
Read MoreFormer Banner Health Nurse Collects $6M in Whistleblower Lawsuits
Cecilia Guardiola, RN, has an impressive resume as a hospital compliance expert. However, recently, she’s been having trouble landing a job. It seems that once hospitals do a background check on Ms. Guardiola, she rarely hears from them again. That may have something to do with the three whistleblower lawsuits she’s filed against former hospitals…
Read MoreNick Verderame, Associate
I like representing injured plaintiffs because it’s a lot of fun. It’s not just fun what we do every day, going to court and making arguments, but it’s fun helping people in a way that impacts their life. Before I was doing this kind of work, I was doing corporate mergers and acquisitions, and it…
Read MoreNuisance Neighbors: NC Judge Awards $50 Million in Lawsuit against Murphy Brown/Smithfield Foods
Despite their reputation, pigs are clean animals. If given enough space, they’ll stay far away from their own waste. They’ll clean off their food if there’s water nearby. And the wallowing in mud? Not only does it cool them down (pigs don’t have sweat glands), but it keeps ticks, lice and other parasites at bay.…
Read MoreBike Safety
Bicycle safety can be a little bit complicated. Normally, bicycles are supposed to follow the same rules of the road that motor vehicles follow. But there are exceptions. In Arizona, for example, a bicycle in a cross walk is covered by the same rules as pedestrians, whether you’re riding your bike or walking your bike.…
Read MoreWhistleblowers Prevail in $11.4 Million Qui Tam Claim with Genetics Testing Company
On March 5, 2018, Natera Inc. settled with the U.S. government for $11.4 million dollars to resolve a qui tam action filed by Sallie McAdoo and Steven Aldridge in January 2015. The qui tam complaint alleges that Natera, a genetic testing laboratory which performed services for which they were reimbursed by several government agencies, submitted…
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